Mercados and minor disasters

Here's a bit of the beauty and abundance of the market in Antigua, which goes on and on for blocks. Rosa Maria, my teacher, took me over to the market for atole blanco (a hot and salty corn drink made with white cornmeal and black beans) and tamales. Delicious! I'm also enjoying the food at Doña Thelma's house - she is a wonderful cook, and has made many local specialties while I've been there. Lunch, almuerzo, is the main meal of the day here, as it is in El Salvador. Breakfast and supper are both accompanied by a plate with a large fresh roll and a big leaf-shaped cookie, called an hoja (leaf), perfect for dipping into tea or coffee. I have probably gained a pound or two, because the hojas are very hard to resist.

My minor disaster was what must be a typical accident here. I walked out of an internet café and walked on down the sidewalk, thinking over something or other, and WHAM, walked right into one of the projecting stone window sills that stick out into the sidewalks all over Antigua. I soon noticed that blood was dripping down from my forehead and concluded that I had a little head wound. As you may know, nothing bleeds like a head wound! I walked toward my house looking like the survivor of a violent attack. A couple of very nice men insisted on giving me a ride, and when I got back to the house, Don Carlos, Thelma's husband, provided cotton and iodine. A brief headache, well deserved, but after a couple of hours I was back to normal, promising to pay CAREFUL attention to my surroundings. The next day, on my way to school, as I was scanning the horizon for window sills to avoid I managed to step into a fresh heap of dog poop. Sometimes you just can't win.